Audit: More Than $480K Missing From Hospitality Association

An audit of the South Carolina Hospitality Association's finances shows that more than $480,000 was misappropriated since 2009, association Chairman Rick Erwin said Thursday at a press conference.

Erwin hired The Hobbs Group, a Columbia accounting firm, to conduct the audit after questions arose about missing money at the organization.

at the organization when the association's President Tom Sponseller went missing in February. 

Police found Sponseller dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound more than a week later. , Sponseller talked about his embarrassment and disappointment over the investigation. 

Erwin said at a press conference Thursday that the association is taking steps to keep better track of its finances.

"What we heard (from the auditors) was shocking. It was sickening and it is inexcusable," Erwin said. "It happened because there was little oversight and accountablilty by the management and the association and the governing board for many years."

Erwin said the board relied on financial statements presented at their meetings to keep track of the organization's finances. These statements were presented by Sponseller and Rachel Duncan, the former accountant at the associaton and a person of interest in the federal investigation into the missing money. 

Auditors hired by the association have not found any evidence implicating that Sponseller was involved with the missing money, Erwin said.

The examination of the association's finances is not complete, Erwin said, but they are turning the auditors' findings over to federal investigators. 

The association has established a financial accountability committee to create "best practices and standards" for handling of the organization's finances, Erwin said. They have also created a restructuring committee to look at how their operations can be improved.

"We cannot change the past," Erwin said, "but we can learn from it, and we can make sure it doesn't happen again."